Welp, Inabayama was more or less done with the humans outside. There was no one left to attack her anymore, both humans, their machines and Pokemon laying broken across the mountain of rubble that once made up the walls and buildings surrounding that big one in the middle. Some were still breathing, but going out of her way to kill them one by one felt unnecessary and excessive.
Huh, maybe her girlfriend was rubbing off on her.
Either way, she felt like it was better to go into the remaining building and check on Hiei. Maybe that wasn't NECESSARY per se, but on the off chance Gardevoir might've needed her help with something - Goodra came to the entrance, and kicked the heavy metal door, easily caving it in. Yeah, it was not the way Hiei entered - she planned to burrow somewhere through a wall where the security was supposed to be at its weakest - but this was easier than finding that other entrance.
The insides of the building were shrouded in dull, flickering red light, that was almost too dim even for the dragon. Dark, oppressive, and difficult to discern anything but shapes. Which didn't even make much sense - humans required way more than this, or they'd stumble over their own toes!
Maybe Hiei turned the power off? Why were there any lights left at all then? Ugh, Goodra did not have enough knowledge about these things to even guess.
It took Inabayama halfway through the first room and past some weird, fragile glass doors that only came up to her midsection for something to happen - a few mechanical thingies at the ceiling whirled and began showering dragon in pretty nasty stings. Not really in the mood for this nonsense, she tore a few chunks of rocks out of the floor, and flung them at the ceiling things, shattering the machines in the process.
Well, at least she knew Hiei did not pass through here.
Scrunching another closed, heavy door into a metal ball, Inabayama crossed a few more rooms devoid of proper lighting before entering the first fork in the road - a corridor with multiple doors to the sides, that also split into more corridors in several places.
Ugh.
Inabayama was NOT good at finding her way through these - her girlfriend usually did so instead. How was she supposed to-
Suddenly, she picked up sounds of leather and rubber against the rock. Several humans were running her way. Their breathing was erratic - these were not fighters. Could they be running away from something.? Or someone. With a wide smile, she went straight to them.
Four humans have appeared from behind the corner, bumping into the dragon, and then screaming in terror. Right in her face. Rude.
So even as they were screaming their lungs out, she delicately put her hand on the shoulder of the one in the front, and one finger to her nose - humans did the latter when they wanted to shut someone up.
The humans did not stop screaming, even as she was being nice. Again, rude.
With a simple, easy movement, Inabayama flattened the first human into a silent pancake, and repeated the gesture to the rest. One of them immediately fainted, but the rest actually managed to shut up. Finally.
After thinking about it for a second, the dragon reached to her own head with both hands, and extended fingers outwards to the sides, then shooting the three humans a quizzical look. They seemed lost, despite this being a pretty accurate description, all things considered. Hmm, maybe they did not see Hiei? Why were they running th-
Another shriek. Damn, it sounded downright livid. The dragon really needed to hurry.
It seemed distant, yet was very, very loud. Almost painfully so. Also, one of the humans started bawling for some reason.
Inabayama pointed somewhere up, then to the side of her head - where humans had ears - and then shot the three another quizzical look. The one human that was not flattened, unconscious or crying, seemingly, finally understood, and pointed towards the corridor on the other side of the central one.
Good enough.
Leaving the three humans and a human pancake behind, Inabayama hurried towards that part of the building. And this time, it didn't take her long to stumble upon a trail left behind by her girlfriend.
Five Pokemon corpses, including a mechanical abomination like the one on the mountain, were laying on the floor, limbs and body parts scattered everywhere, with deep claw marks on the floor and walls, and a strong smell of blood hanging in the air.
Somewhere in the distance, a faint noise could be heard, as if something exploded. Goodra moved again. From that point on, those same claw marks appeared on nearly every surface.
That was not the only commonality though.
Mangled, torn bodies of both Pokemon and humans littered the floors. Many were shredded to pieces beyond any recognition. These were scenes of utter massacre.
And while none of that really got to Inabayama, something else did.
None of these corpses were done in one or two simple, powerful moves. No, they were made as if someone was deliberately tearing into them, only stopping to switch to the next target. Despite the dim, unstable lights, the dragon even saw deep bite marks on many human and Pokemon corpses.
None of this felt like Hiei's handiwork.
Another shriek. Somewhere close. This time, Inabayama felt like someone punched her right in the brain. Bloody. Ouch.
Shrugging the pain and the dizziness off, Goodra ran further down the path, trying to pay no mind to the horrible, bloodstained wrongness of everything around her. What the hell happened? Was encountering that mechanical abomination the reason for this? Or did something else anger Hiei to THIS point?
Was it even Hiei she was following?
It… It must be! This shriek was similar to the one she heard on the mountain, when a human woke Gardevoir up. But this time… This time, there was just so much pure malice, so much blood, so much wrongness in the air…
A human screamed somewhere nearby.
Then, just a few heartbeats later, the dragon saw them.
A human was running through a corridor, screaming in pure, concentrated terror. Behind, a shadow flickered after them, slithering across the floor, then one of the walls, then floor again, before reaching the poor thing and sending it tumbling further without both legs.
The scream of terror changed into one of agony.
With a wet growl, the shadow descended upon its prey, clawing off appendages, tearing into the body, and biting into the flesh, not stopping even once the screams ceased. The flesh tore, the bone broke, yet the shadow was hungering for more.
What… What WAS this thing?..
The lights flickered, and Inabayama shuddered, as the shadow's gaze met hers.
She could not win.
She ran.
She FELT it following.
Left, right, DAMN IT, THROUGH the wall. Tore a chunk of stone, flung it INTO the ceiling ahead. It collapsed just as she crossed.
She did not stop.
Her hind eyes still saw shadows move. Still followed. Faster!
Right, left, THERE, the five corpses. The exit is close! Maybe if-
SHRIEK.
AGONY.
Trying to fight through the pain, the dragon was too late to realise her weightlessness, her legs quickly losing contact with the ground, body rising into the air and quickly losing all momentum.
And then, the shadow tackled her into the ceiling, pinning the Goodra to it, and striking with its vicious claw.
Inabayama, paralyzed by sheer terror, could only cry in pain, as the strike took her left eye. And then-
There was no second strike.
"I… …naba… …yama?.." the shadow flickered, and then retreated, revealing her form - Hiei's form - that horrible blackness still pooling in her eyes, "What… …have I… …done…"
With another flicker, the pools of black faded into the blood red, and the Gardevoir lost consciousness. No shadows remained.
A moment later, they both fell to the ground.